The Holocron of Darth Tyranus
by Cmdr's Monkey
Summary: 100 Situations in which the esteemed Jedi Master, regal Count of Serenno, and devious Sith Lord, Count Dooku has found himself in throughout his eighty-three years of life, with guest appearances of Qui-Gon Jinn, Jocasta Nu, Obi-wan Kenobi, Darth Sidious, Anakin Skywalker, and many more!
1. 1 through 25

****_Been wanting to do this for a while now for Count Dooku. Here are 100 situations in which our esteemed Jedi Master, regal Count of Serenno, and devious Sith Lord, has found himself in throughout his eighty-three years of life. There is no rhyme or reason in the way these situations are ordered, so you will find that it jumps around a lot throughout his life. I've tried to be humorous, angsty, serious, and plain fun with the Count's life.  
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_Expect to see Qui-Gon Jinn and Jocasta Nu a lot, as well as Obi-wan Kenobi, Sidious, Yoda and various others depending on the situation.  
_

_Here are the first twenty-five situations in which Dooku has found himself in.  
_

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**01: Tired**

After eighty-three years of life he was exhausted and was looking forward to living the rest of his years in retirement once he had managed to complete his master's last task for him (to bring the arrogant Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, closer to the Darkside and well on his way to becoming his master's newest apprentice) only then could he finally rest in peace and reap the rewards of thirteen long years of hardship and darkness on his soul, but when the duel with the falling Jedi had finally drawn to an end with azure and crimson blades at his neck and his master's "Do it!" ringing in his ears, did he find the irony in his master's promise of retirement.

**02: Back Alley**

When Dooku and Qui-Gon had chased the wily con-man into a dark and gritty back alley, neither Master nor Padawan expected the confident laughter from the cornered Sullustan when they demanded for his surrender once it became apparent that the alien had ran down a dead end, except that the dead end had not trapped the con-man at all like they had thought and instead turned out to be a trap for them when Dooku turned to face several thugs filling the entrance of the back alley.

**03: Sunrise**

The first light of the new dawn seen from atop of the Jedi Temple was well worth waking up at the odd hour in the morning and a practice that Dooku always took time for whenever he returned to Coruscant and the Temple (no matter what mood he was in and what pressing matters he had to attend to for that day) just to see the new day rising in all its golden and crimson splendor and which became something he could not break himself of doing, even seven decades later as he stood atop of the run down industrial building in The Works far above the Sith's secret lair.

**04: Late**

"You're late," declared an irritable and tied up Dooku as a long-limbed fifteen year old boy, carrying in his arms what looked like a hatchling of some dragon-bird, came tumbling into the Onderon rebel tent, however Dooku's irritation soon gave way to surprise when a dark shadow flew overhead (which quickly grew furious and vicious with the rebels when they had opened fire on the much larger and very wild dragon-bird); and when Dooku looked at his Padawan accusingly, he only received a cheeky grin before the boy dropped the hatchling in his master's lap and proceeded to untie the man.

**05: Son**

The only real tragedy of the Jedi was the fact that they were not permitted to form attachments with other beings, to do so would bring a dangerous risk to their self-control and focus and place the guardians in situations that could compromise their missions or the safety of the Republic and thus are forced to live lonely lives; but for Jedi Master Dooku, he would be damned to allow that one tenant of the Order to cost him the life of the only man he considered a son to be condemned to a life of servitude on some backwater world in the Outer Rim because the Jedi Council would not send a team to go rescue him, so he took it in his own hands (with the help of Jedi Tahl as well) and stealing into the night a shuttle to find his former Padawan.

**06: Hot**

The Master watched with a shake of his head as his young Padawan Learner stripped himself nearly bare of his entire vestments and robe to dive into the lukewarm water of the oasis just so he could escape the heat of the desert, and a small gasp and giggle beside him drew his attention away to the young woman they had been tasked to protect and who asked a second later with a mischievous look in her eyes, "Will you not join him, Master Jedi?", and Dooku felt, at that moment, like she was visually undressing him to see what he might look like under his own sweat drenched robes.

**07: Friend**

Dooku could count the number of true friends he's had in his life on just one hand, and when he learned of that friend having fallen to a Sith Lord, did he finally feel truly alone in the galaxy and thus no longer felt that he needed to remain with the Jedi Order any longer; so when he tossed his lightsaber at the feet of the Jedi Council and renounced his commission as a Knight of the Order, he did not look back at those who had considered _him_ a friend.

**08: Floor**

The hard mat was growing irritatingly annoying to the young Padawan as he landed, face down upon it once more after he had his arse handed to him for who knew how many times that morning during his sparring match with the little green troll that was his master, but rather than remain on the floor and yield to the older being, Dooku stubbornly climbed to his feet and called his lightsaber back to him and with a puff of air to blow back his braid, he met the disappointed eyes of his master and said in a determined tone boarding on pride and anger, "Again."

**09: Cheat**

When Lorian Nod had stolen the Sith Holocron from the Archives, Dooku knew exactly why the young Initiate had done it (the fear of being sent away to the Service Corps had also been on his mind as his thirteenth year drew closer), and he would have pitied his friend for trying to cheat his way into an apprenticeship if the young boy had not accused _him_ of stealing the ancient relic instead.

**10: Think**

Qui-Gon Jinn was a bright Padawan, this much Dooku learned in their first year when he had tasked the child to come up with a solution to a minor problem he had to resolve, but as the years passed and the boy grew, Dooku began to wonder if perhaps that one problem had drained the boy's ability to think at all when he found him waist deep in a bog, clinging onto a very thin branch that looked ready to snap and so Dooku stood on the solid path with his arms crossed and said; "Did not Master Yoda teach you to think before you leapt, Padawan?"

**11: Disgust**

As he lay on the cold, black floor in the industrial building deep within the automated part of the city planet, his focus completely gone as the pain wracking spasms caused by Sith Lightning jerked his body, the Count of Serenno and apprentice to the last Sith Lord felt disgusted at his inability to defend himself from his master's most powerful attack and began to wonder if perhaps he had made a mistake in pretending to accept the politician's offer to become his student and partner in the Grand Plan of the Sith, for how would he be able to defeat such power if he could not defend himself from it?

**12: Shelter**

There was a time when Dooku had called the Jedi Temple a safe haven and Coruscant his homeworld, but as he stared down at the city planet while the battle between Republic and Separatist forces raged all around his ship, he knew that he would never find either one a shelter for him again like he had long ago after returning from a harrowing mission or a long trip in the Outer Rim, for he was now nothing but a traitor to the people of this world and a fallen brother to the ancient order that had been his only family since he was four.

**13: Borrow**

When Qui-Gon had finally fully grown, both Master and Padawan often found themselves borrowing articles of clothing from each other whenever they were on a mission that caused some part of their attire to no longer be serviceable to them (or for some other reason or another), and on one such mission both men found themselves quickly changing into the others vestments and robes just so they could trick the primitive bandits that hunted them into chasing the Master rather than the injured Padawan; and once they had finished, Qui-Gon looked upon Dooku and commented with a cheeky grin, "Come along, Padawan."

**14: Chair**

He had to give the boy credit for being stubbornly persistent in his quest to humiliate and defeat the one man who had, in turn, humiliated and defeated him a year prior, that Dooku found himself resorting to trickery just so he could keep his head and make off with the Supreme Chancellor and as he threw chair after chair, some very expensive looking gold platter and dinnerware in which two of the forks embedded themselves into Skywalker's mechanical arm, the only thing that was now between him and the boy's growing anger was a chair, of all things, rather than his skill with the lightsaber like he preferred and this irritated the Sith Lord to no end.

**15: Alter**

The Force was more powerful than he could have ever possibly imagined, so when the ancient Sith Holocron spoke of the Force being able to alter life, even one's own, to whatever he wanted within the limits of the lifeform, Darth Tyranus found himself wanting to know more for he had a desire to be young again and only in his youth (he was absolutely certain of this belief) could he have the strength and power to defeat his master without an apprentice to aid him, but when he inquired and demanded the gatekeeper of the holocron to tell him how, the ancient Sith inscribed onto the device simply laughed and mocked, "A Jedi seeking immortality?" and this angered the old Sith to the point that he crushed the secret into oblivion.

**16: Peace**

"There is no emotion, there is peace," he recited the mantra for the hundredth time that evening as he attempted to meditate, but for the hundredth time peace eluded him as angry thoughts of what the Council had done to his former Padawan invaded his mind and crushed every serene feeling he had into a thousand pieces so that all that was left was the bitterness and grief he had felt upon hearing the news of Qui-Gon's passing and an insidious idea slowly creeping into his mind as he toyed with the idea of killing the Sith Master so he could avenge the man that had been a son to him in all but blood, which soon turned to the idea of seeking revenge against the Council instead by seeking out said Sith Master to learn from.

**17: Beach**

There were two things he had been able to remember of his homeworld, Serenno, during his life as a Jedi, one of those things being Serennian roses in a garden he remembered playing in as a child and the other were the calming shores of the beach to the west in which he recalled picking up a seashell to listen with fascination as an ocean roared from within it; but when he stepped out onto the marble stonework as he disembarked from the shuttle, new memories of a four year old child assaulted him as he gazed upon the vast grounds of his family estate.

**18: True**

"Traitor," the Padawan of his Padawan had called him moments before after Dooku had tried to persuade the young man to join his cause and although he had spoken the honest to the Force truth about everything he had said, Obi-Wan Kenobi refused to believe him that a Sith Lord had found it's way into power within the very establishment that the Jedi Knight swore to defend and Dooku truly wished that his friend and the young man's master, Qui-Gon, was here with him for he now understood that it would only be that fallen Jedi Master's word in which Kenobi would believe in as the truth.

**19: Crazy**

Of all the hair-brain ideas that his friend, Lorian, could have come up with to entertain themselves during the changing of the week before they had to resume their studies again, Dooku would have said 'no' to his latest one if he had known that it would result in them ending up in a trash compactor at the bottom of the Temple with an amused Master Yoda smiling down at them as they climbed out and saying, much to his embarrassment, "Discovered a wonderful smell, you two have," and from that day forward, Dooku swore he would not endure such humiliation again.

**20: Love**

They had been in the Room of a Thousand Fountains when it had happened unexpectedly, and completely throwing the regal Jedi Master off guard because of it, that it would take him some time later to finally comprehend what exactly had happened between he and Madame Jocasta Nu after she had tenderly placed a loving kiss on his lips and he responded with a passion he had not realized had built up inside him for _her_.

**21: New**

The two silvery hilt pieces enclosed the crimson crystal with a snap and a twist, and a weathered, elderly hand with long fingers slowly gripped from the air the newly completed lightsaber to be carefully turned over between both hands as intense brown eyes gazed upon the craftsmanship and as he did, Dooku could feel the power emanating from the artificial crystal within just before he thumbed the ignition switch and with the blood-red glow illuminating his dark surroundings and bathing him in the new light that both personified the new path he had stepped upon and the New Order he would help bring about to the galaxy, did he finally feel free of his old life.

**22: Beggar**

He knew how strong Qui-Gon Jinn was in the Living Force and how that affinity often caused him to pick up a stray here and there on their missions, but to see several little beggars run up to the tall and compassionate Jedi Knight with smiles of joy and excitement at his return and asking for stories as they crowded him in a close ring of grubby hands and ill-kept rags, Jedi Master Dooku could not help but smile and accept this fact about his former Padawan and prayed that the Force would grant the Jedi a long life just so he could continue to bring such happiness, however briefly, to the children of a war torn society.

**23: Sick**

Dooku hated the Healer's Ward with such a passion that when he had come down with the Iridonian Fever, he purposely neglected to inform anyone of his illness and digitally requested for a few days of downtime to recover in the secluded confines of his personal quarters, believing that he and the Force could deal with it; however after four days of misery and forgetting about the dinner date he had with a certain Archivist, it was a concerned Madame Nu who found him and admitted him to the Ward amidst much protesting and feverish nonsense.

**24: Bewitching**

Dathomir was a planet he did not want to return to ever again and no crashed training ship, Master Yoda or even Jocasta could convince him to do so, especially after he found himself nearly enslaved by the strong willed witches riding armored rancors and one of them had tried to charm him into obedience and to her bed even though it was plainly obvious that Madame Nu had laid claim to him for his sake, and the only way he could get out of his predicament was to rescue Sister Talzin from a band of Nightsisters and promise her a lock of his hair.

**25: Cancer**

The corruption within the Galactic Senate had festered for far too long that it had become a terminal cancer to the great establishment that he had loved and he knew that it could not be cleansed of it by conventional politics, so like a doctor, Count Dooku planned on taking a surgical knife to the Republic in order to remove that cancerous disease that was the Senate and his first step toward healing the galaxy would be to announce to that very same Senate of his and two thousand other systems of their intent to secede from the Galactic Republic, and with a confident smirk he stepped onto the holoplate and began his speech of secession, "Representatives of the Galactic Republic, I come before you today..."


	2. 26 through 50

_Here is the next 25. This set seems to focus more on Sith Dooku._**  
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**26: Pickpocket**

Although it was something he did not like to do, sometimes picking the pocket of some unsuspecting employee of a facility he was trying to get in to in order to solve the current mystery or rescue a person he was meant to be protecting, was an absolute necessity that he could live with; and when Komari Vosa, his latest padawan, had spotted him deftly filching the security card off of a Republic Senator so he could break into that man's office and find the files he needed to expose him, she nearly begged for him to teach her how to do it.

**27: Reverse**

It was said that Jedi could not be chemically influenced and it was partly true when they were aware of what was happening to them and they had the Force to dispose of the intoxicating chemicals from their system, something, apparently, Komari Vosa had hoped he would not notice until he was well under the influence of the drug she had spiked his drink with, however when he had noticed that something was not right the moment his Padawan became inappropriately intimate with him and he was responding in a way he only reserved for Jocasta, he realized what his apprentice had done and thus purged himself of the aphrodisiac, and at that point his demeanor and character had undertaken such a reversal that if she had not pleaded for his forgiveness he would not have seen the fear he had instilled into her.

**28: Deliver**

When he and Qui-Gon had accepted the Council's mission some years after Xanatos, of all the things he had expected to encounter on the long term undercover investigation into the assassination of House Vane's patriarch on Valahari, delivering the newborn son of Viscount Harko Vane and Elodore Vane in a mountain cabin, had not been among the things he thought he would be doing while protecting the royal family from the bounty hunters intent on finishing off what they had started, and when Elodore had offered him the chance to hold her son and name him, the regal Jedi Master was delivered speechless for a long time until he whispered to the squirming bundle in his arms his name, "Tofen."

**29: Arrival **

Master Dooku disliked spaceports for the simple reason that they were always crowded, with the exception of the most remote star systems, and filled to the brim with alien species, of which only a handful he could name, trying to jostle about and reach their terminals, so that every time he arrived at one of these infernal places, he always exercised his position as a Jedi ambassador to get in and out of the places as quickly as possible before he could be accosted by the space goers demanding his help for some reason or another, however this one time he was not quick enough as a pair of Wookiees intercepted him and in their snarling and growling language, politely requested his assistance in helping them rescue their son from Trandoshan slavers before they could make off with him on their starship, and how could he refuse when the Living Force demanded him to help?

**30: Fall**

He had never been tempted by the Darkside of the Force throughout his entire life (not even when he had nearly murdered Lorian Nod), so when he faced the very incarnation of that aspect of the Force and was given no choice except to turn or die, the Jedi Master that he had once been would have been appalled at how far he had fallen from grace and how deeply he willingly plunged into the darkness (and lying to himself that it was because he had been under the duress of Sith Lightning sapping his very strength and life from him).

**31: Knife**

A lightsaber was a Jedi's life, but Dooku knew from experience that a Jedi could not depend on having a lightsaber at hand to save his life, so when he and his second Padawan found themselves saber-less, bound and imprisoned, the Jedi Master reached down into his dark boot and produced a thin vibrodagger from the hidden sheath inside and said to his surprised apprentice, "Always have a contingency weapon, Padawan."

**32: Torn**

Dooku felt torn between his feelings for Viscountess Elodore Vane of Valahari, and his duty to both the galaxy and his master, so much so that when he gave Ventress her instructions, a part of him prayed to the Force that the Rattataki witch would fail in her task; and when the Viscountess discovered the truth months later and declared that he would forever be banished from Valahari on pain of death, the former Jedi Master and now Sith Lord admitted to himself that he was having regrets in serving Sidious and perhaps it was time for him to severe his ties and return home, if he could go home that is.

**33: Danger**

The problem about being the Dooku and Qui-Gon team was that trouble always seemed to find them no matter where they went, who they were with, or what kind of mission they had undertaken; somehow they would anger some warlord or dignitary with their actions or diplomatic solutions and thus were often in danger of being assaulted by the current planet's most ruthless thugs brave enough to face a pair of Jedi, so much so that Master Dooku insisted that at least one of them remained alert when they left the star systems and that paranoia had never left him even after the Dooku and Qui-Gon team had been broken up with Qui-Gon's knighting.

**34: Neutral **

"Master Dooku is considered a fair and just man when it comes to settling disputes between disagreeing parties, so you may rest assured, Senator Kalitrax, that he will remain neutral throughout this whole affair," explained the Senator of Bakura while said discussed Jedi stood off to the side with a cool expression and his arms folded into the sleeves of his cloak, waiting patiently for all parties involved to accept his presence and the help he could offer.

**35: Mate**

There were times during the war he would admit to himself, and in front of no one, that he longed to return home to the familiarity of the grandiose halls and serene chambers of the Jedi Temple but not because he missed the comforting gardens and peaceful meditation rooms (something he could easily find replacements anywhere in the galaxy), but rather he missed the company of those that had been friendly acquaintances, crèche mates and _her_.

**36: Fly**

"How come _I_ never get to drive?" asked a perturbed eighteen year old Qui-Gon Jinn as he and Master Dooku climbed into the speeder, with Dooku taking the pilot seat and Qui-Gon reluctantly and disappointingly claimed his usual seat beside his master all the while watching the man as he waited for the answer and when Dooku had merged the vehicle into Coruscanti traffic, did he finally get that answer and it was not one he liked and retorted defensively, "How can I fly recklessly if you never let me drive?"

**37: Loud**

The Republic Senate had roared in outrage to Jedi Master Dooku's accusations and disgust with the corruption within their ranks and over the matter of how the many senators and representatives purposely used the Jedi Order to swell their own pockets with credits without a care for the men and women who faithfully served the Republic or the innocents whom they trampled upon, and if Dooku had thought the Senate had been incredibly loud, he had been mistaken when he had raised his own voice at the Jedi High Council hours later when they decreed he would be censored and confined to the Temple for a duration of six months or until the political mess he had caused with the Senate had quieted down.

**38: Touch**

The two lightsaber duelists circled each other, sizing the other before the younger one twirled her twin blue blades in anticipation of the older man's first move, but her impatience and eagerness to start the duel already caused her to lose the match before she even knew it and as the master continued to be patient he was soon rewarded with an aggressive lunge from his student; and viridian green and cerulean blue clashed against each other in a swift but sharp dance of deadly grace for one, two, three strikes before the old man's green blade was just centimeters from touching the young woman's throat and her two blades held wide at either side of her, "This is why I dislike Jar'Kai, Padawan. It has no finesse and is easy to exploit with Makashi."

**39: Seek**

Count Dooku quietly strode into the Jedi Temple wearing the traditional robes of the Jedi, he made no eye contact with any of his former brethren (despite the fact that he had the hood hiding half of his face), and made his way through the halls toward the Jedi Archives while keeping his senses alert for any of the people he knew that would recognize his presence and in particular for the one person he did not wish to see this day even though he knew he would not be able to avoid her entirely once he stepped into her domain and sought to delete the information he was after, for once he encountered her he knew he might not be able to bring himself to hurt her when she started questioning why he was there.

**40: Argue**

When Qui-Gon had finally hit the rebellious stage in his teenage years, Master Dooku swore he was sorely tempted at times to embrace the Darkside and put the fear of authority back into the boy if it meant avoiding the many arguments they shared on missions; today was no different as the regal Jedi Master watched as his Padawan stormed off in front of the delegates of Alderaan and leaving him fuming inside and pondering whether he could get away with murdering his own Padawan, but just as quickly as the sinister thoughts came, Dooku crushed them, reminding himself that he could never harm the boy regardless of how angry he was (besides, he would get back at the boy later for his disrespect in the form of making him escort the Alderaanian Prince to a gala).

**41: Work**

The two padawans stared in dismay at the ruined training salon and battle droids before a growing Dooku sighed heavily and reached down for the bucket and brush and beckoned his friend and co-conspirator in this mess, Jocasta, to take up the other bucket and get started on cleaning the charred walls and floors, muttering all the while at his own stupidity for trying to be clever and get out of his chores so he could do something for a friend; but as the morning wore on and the work became tedious and his mood grew worse, he was embarrassingly shocked when said friend gave him a peck on the cheek and said quietly, "Thank you for trying."

**42: Sink**

An older Jedi Master Dooku and Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn stood back to back with their lightsabers drawn, warily eying their opponents of the final tier for the Cresh bracket as they stepped out onto the arena mat, and Dooku was confident that they would win over Sora Bulq and his chosen partner and face the winners of the Grek bracket to win the Annual Lightsaber Tournament, but as Mace Windu stepped out onto the mat and ignited his purple bladed lightsaber and held it in a high guard, both Master and Knight glanced at each other with a sinking feeling, it was Qui-Gon who spoke first, "I have a bad feeling about this."

**43: Joke**

When Qui-Gon and his friends had tried to cheer him up after the failed mission to Anison, they were beside themselves on how to go about accomplishing it until one of them got the brilliant idea to tell him jokes and so, knowing he wasn't going to get rid of them easily, Dooku humored his Padawan and his friends as they sat around in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, half-listening to their ridiculous sense of humor until Qui-Gon performed a decent impression of Master Yoda walking with his cane and threatening to whack them with it if they didn't mind the Code, and although it did cause his lips to twitch slightly into a smile, it was only when the real Master Yoda had revealed himself behind the younglings (threatening to do the very same thing to them if they didn't make themselves useful elsewhere), that finally brightened his day long enough to make him smile.

**44: Stuck**

Being stranded on a remote planet, inside a pirate-infested fortress and bound to two of his enemies was not his idea of how he planned on manipulating the galaxy into accepting their future Sith Masters; and when those two enemies started making barbs at his age and physical prowess, he was certain that the Force was a cruel mistress for sticking him with _these_ two particular Jedi, "I would kill you _both_ if I did not have to drag your bodies."

**45: Animal**

When he learned that the beast who had slain his Padawan had survived Obi-wan Kenobi, there was nothing in the galaxy at that moment that Dooku wanted more than to show that animal what a true master of the Force was capable of in a lightsaber duel and to avenge his fallen friend, so when Sidious had commanded him to deal with the returned Zabrak, he eagerly (perhaps too eagerly) agreed to take care of it personally despite the warnings his master gave him to not underestimate Maul; and when he finally faced the horned and tattooed nightmare, he deliberately and slowly drew his lightsaber into the traditional Makashi salute and guard and snarled, "This will be a day long remembered, _monster_."

**46: Pray**

He was not a religious man, not in the sense where persons believed in some higher intelligent entity, but as his twelve year old apprentice lay dying in his arms after a group of mercenaries hired by Srulla the Hutt had ambushed them in the streets of Caluula City, Jedi Knight Dooku found himself asking both the Force and whatever deities there might be in the Universe to spare his Padawan, even as he poured every ounce of the Force and strength into the boy to try and knit closed the blaster wound he had suffered, and desperately wished that the boy had not spoken for Dooku realized he was not ready to lose his first padawan, "There is no death, there is only the Force, Master Dooku."

**47: Kill **

The first time he had killed a person he had been fifteen and under the tutelage of Master Thame Cerulian and on a scholarly mission with Master Joyce D'Lur and her padawan Jocasta Nu, a mission that was suppose to be as simple (and rather boring up until the shooting started) as digging in the mud for the lost Jedi enclave, except someone neglected to tell the local raiders that and so after it was all over, a young Dooku found himself standing over the smoking remains of one of those raiders with a pale and sickly face with the urge to empty the contents of his stomach, but a friendly hand on his shoulder and a worried smile from his fellow Padawan kept him from embarrassing himself.

**48: Light**

Here was his former master, telling him (in his own eccentric way of giving wisdom and teaching a lesson, so that it would lead the recipient to eventually draw the same conclusions that his master was trying to convey and make the _student_ learn from their own wisdom), that the Dark was only quicker, easier than the Light, and as Master Yoda pretended to be a sinister being, which disturbed Count Dooku on so many levels, demanding to know what the Darkside could give him that the Light could not, the former Master knew, once more, that he was that Padawan again as he drew the conclusions that the Darkside could not give anything that which the Light already offered and had Kenobi and Skywalker not shown up when they had, Dooku was certain he would have accepted his Master's hand in friendship and trust.

**49: Cold**

Ilum was unbearably cold and for the umpteenth time he wondered why the Jedi had to choose these crystal caves for their Padawans to find their lightsaber crystal in when there were plenty of similar caves throughout the galaxy and on much warmer planets than this place, and as he thought of the curiosity while standing within said cave looking for his own crystal, the answer came to him in the form of an apparition, "Only here the Force is strongest, youngling, as are your doubts and fears."

**50: Affair**

He had a secret that none of the Jedi Council knew about, it wasn't a dirty secret like it normally would have been for a politician had he been one, but it was a secret nonetheless and just as scandalous amongst the Jedi as it would be for a Senator, for it was forbidden for Jedi, much less two, to have a secret affair between them and the two Jedi Masters involved did not care that they were breaking one of the highest tenants of their Order, because they felt their love was _not_ wrong.


	3. 51 through 75

**51: Restaurant**

Jedi Master Dooku stared at the atrocious architecture of the tiny restaurant that somehow managed to be tucked away between the sky rises of Coruscant and wondered how something like Dex's Diner could exist in Galactic City, a capitol city that was renowned for the Senate Rotunda, the Jedi Temple, 500 Republica, and the Galactica Opera House, and so he looked to his former Padawan beside him and gave the younger man a scrupulous look, "Are you certain about the edibility of the food from this... _place_?"

**52: Opera**

They sat in the dark of the show box, watching in silence the Alderaanian opera play out in all it's grandiose and splendor, with it's loud orchestra and powerful singers, and the actors reenacting the familiar tale of Jedi Revan and his lover Bastila Shan (though they knew, in truth, she was his guardian at the time), and when the lament was sung in Revan's name, so moved were the two that Master Dooku did not register the hand that had grasped his own until Madame Nu had tried to move it away but got only as far as an inch before his captured it, and looking upon her, he swore he saw her blush in the dark from his thumb lightly caressing the palm of her hand as he smiled at her and if they had not been in such a public setting, he would have leaned over to kiss her so therefore she had to settle with his lips tenderly pressed to her hand, his eyes twinkling with promised mischievous later.

**53: Wait**

The worse part about a battle plan was the waiting, Master Dooku surmised as he lay prone in the mud overlooking a canyon from a ledge while it rained all around him, soaking into his Jedi vestments, his boots, his hair, his skin, even his very bones and when he stole a glance to his companion beside him, he felt comforted at the thought that Qui-Gon was equally as miserable as he while they waited for the rebels to walk into their trap.

**54: Patient**

Count Dooku had to give credit to the Sith for the thousand year long restraint they had imposed upon themselves, that he found it more amusing at the irony of how the Jedi had always preached that their ancient rivals were ruled by their passions and therefore those passions would destroy them, and yet here he knelt before one of these Sith and he could not help but think that it is the Jedi who are ruled by their passions for this Sith, although reeked of the Darkside, was in far more control of himself than half the Jedi he had known, and the patience that radiated off of him could rival even Master Yoda's.

**55: Crime**

The two Jedi Knights stood back to back with their lightsaber hilts in hand but unignited as security forces of the planet they were on surrounded them with blasters drawn and wary but determined looks on their equine faces, and when the older Jedi demanded to know what was going on, a Nazzar wearing the insignia of a captain stepped through the circle and answered, "Masters Dooku and Jinn, by the order of the Praefacts you are hereby placed under arrest for the regicide of His Majesty, King Yrrk Jazit and conspiring with Drrn Kallat to spread blasphemy against the _Ulizra_. Resist and you will be executed on the spot," and the two Knights glanced at each other in shock, more out of surprise that the King was dead rather than that they were being framed for the crime.

**56: Choke **

The thug's strangle hold around his neck was becoming unbearable as black and white spots began to form on the edges of his vision while he reached out for his fallen lightsaber, but no matter how hard he tried to focus on calling the unlit blade to his hand (the most he could make it do was budge a centimeter) he could not concentrate while the very life was being squeezed from him and if it had not been for the rock that came sailing in from the side and hitting the thug hard in his temple, the Jedi Knight would have spent the next hour recovering his dignity after passing out and convincing Qui-Gon not to say a word to anyone that the boy had to come to his Master's rescue _again_.

**57: Fever***

When Qui-Gon had fallen ill to some disease he had contracted from some sick beast on their last mission and the fever had risen dangerously close to being fatal, Jedi Knight Yan Dooku was fraught with fear over the thought that he was going to lose his _first_ Padawan because the child was compelled to obey the Will of the Living Force at any moment and Dooku prayed that his last words to the boy would not be words of scorn and punishment.

**58: Summer**

Coruscant was not known for its seasons due to the planet's temperature being regulated by the gigantic space mirrors in orbit, and only when those mirrors were misaligned did the city planet endure a very long summer season, so when Master Dooku (with a smiling Qui-Gon still grasping a green crystal) stepped off the shuttle and into the unbearable heat, immediately he wanted to return to Ilum where it was much cooler and not caring that the planet was an ice ball in comparison.

**59: Eat**

He disliked eating in public simply not because he was uncomfortable around others, that he could tolerate, but rather having to watch dozens of different species attempt to eat their own meals in so many different and strange ways in comparison to humans and human-like races, that one becomes put off by their own meal and can not stomach the thought of eating anything after having watched someone such as Master Vabetyne rip into a thick mutton like his savage Barabel ancestors.

**60: Thirst**

There was a lesson to be learned about the Darkside and one Dooku had learned far too late, and that lesson to be learned had to do with tasting just a smidgen of the dark power and like a death stick addict craving for more of the despicable drug, a taster of the Darkside ended up thirsting for more and more and never truly realizing how far they have fallen until the Darkside had completely consumed them, and even then they still hungered, they still thirst until death claimed them.

**61: Chance**

"Nothing happens by chance," Master Dooku had told a young Qui-Gon Jinn as the boy picked himself up from the dirty street after having endured a slap to the face by a Dug whom had grown angry at his interference, "Everything is connected through the Living Force and events occur through cause and effect. Where one event happens, everything surrounding it is effected like a stone being tossed into a pond and the ripples spreading outward from the epicenter, acting as the result of the cause and therefore upsetting the balance of the pond as each ripple impacts against other things in that pond and creating more ripples from each impact. Therefore, we who are strongest in the Living Force, must be careful in how we respond to these ripples or we can further unbalance the harmony that is the pond."

**62: Appear**

"Why have you come," the former Jedi inquired of the ghostly figure that stood in his manor's bedchamber, after having suffered the fright of his life when his dead Padawan had materialized out of thin air with a question on his incorporeal lips of "Why did you join him?" and Dooku could not bring himself to face that specter of the past and answer him for he had forgotten his reasons and knew not why now, only that he must now stay the course and finish what he had started.

**63: Whisper**

He had not heard the subtle whispers in the Force while he had fought Kenobi and Skywalker, nor had he felt the familiar presence of his old student when he faced off Master Yoda, but as he sat alone in the back of his ship to meditate and prepare himself for his meeting with his Master, he heard _and_ felt Qui-Gon Jinn as the specter of his past asked somberly, "Have you lost all faith in the Force that you would give _him_ those plans, Master?"

**64: Day**

It was one of those days that Master Dooku fervently wished that he had put his foot down with the first stray that his new and young Padawan had brought back with him the first time so many years ago, and yet despite his misgivings about the animals and the plants (though he could make an exception when it came to the carnivorous ones) that Qui-Gon always seemed to find, he still could not tell the boy no, not even now as he sat in the Healer's Ward sporting a sprained and swollen ankle and staring impassively at his apprentice and the culprit for his present misery in his Padawan's arm, a culprit that squeaked and happily lavished the boy with enthusiastic licks without a clue as to how much trouble it would have been in if his Padawan hadn't cheekily commented, "At least he didn't try to eat you this time, Master."

**65: Scream**

There were times he wanted to scream his frustration, to rant, vent, yell; anything but release his emotions into the Force like he had been taught by his masters and when he was finally faced with such an opportunity he could not bring himself to commit such a breach of etiquette, that instead of screaming to release his frustration like he has long desired, he found himself laughing and did not care about the strange looks he received from his fellow political conspirators for he was amused by the irony of the lessons learned from long ago and how they kept him from doing something unbecoming of a Count of Serenno.

**66: Fail**

If someone could describe the way Knight Dooku appeared as he was told at how incredibly he had failed over the matter of protecting the dignitary from the raiders, Qui-Gon could picture his master as a feral nexu with his fur standing on end, ready to pounce on the thing that was offending him so, and that if he had not put a gentle hand on the older Jedi's arm, Qui-Gon knew he would have been given a new master as his first was expelled from the Order for murder.

**67: Confused**

Padawan Dooku was confused by the conundrum that was the very horrifying fact that he could not feel the Force or the familiar presence of his master as he lay face down in the mud with his hands bound behind his back while Zygerrian slavers chatted away about the latest skyhopper model, and wondered with equal horror at what these beasts had done to him and if his master would come and rescue him, then realized with just as much horror at the thought of his master seeing him in such an embarrassing state that he swore he would save himself first before his master could, provided he could get the Force back that is.

**68: Smile**

Count Dooku had not truly smiled in over twenty years, not since before Galidraan, and so when he had been presented the solar sailor by Archduke Poggle as a gift, he felt a genuine smile grace his lips for the first time in a long time as he admired the graceful lines and exotic antiquity of the ship in all it's splendor and glory.

**69: Come**

"Wait, Master Yoda!" exclaimed an out of breath Dooku, wondering in amazement how such an old Jedi could move so swiftly and leave him panting in his wake, so when he looked up the rocky hill and saw the mirth in the wizened troll's visage as he waited on the Padawan to come and keep up, the young boy decided he would never accuse the master of being slow again.

**70: Alone**

"What are we but alone," Dooku whispered as he stared solemnly at the retreating back of the one person he had thought would come away with him after he had made his intentions to resign from the Order official, but he knew deep down that she would not have followed while she felt that some good could still be done in the galaxy as a Jedi and although his heart felt betrayed by her choice, he could not blame her.

**71: Fast**

The first time he had sparred with Master Yoda he had been but a Padawan Learner and so the master had gone easy on him, however the next time they had sparred the little Jedi had been in good humor and he knew the master had held back even then, but now, he knew why Yoda had never given him his all despite asking him to in past matches, the ancient Jedi was too fast even for him and Dooku was wishing he was fighting anyone else but _him_.

**72: Slow**

It was a shock when he came to realize that he was not the young Jedi he use to be, when he stared at the blood dripping from his hand as it ran down from the deep cut in his right arm and into the grooves of his lightsaber hilt from being a fraction too slow to avoid the Mando's vibroblade and he reluctantly admitted to Komari Vosa, "I'm getting too old for this."

**73: Return**

Sixty years ago, Master Thame had said _they_ would return but the Jedi scoffed at the idea, then thirty years ago Master Dooku began repeating Thame's warnings and like his first teacher, the Council wrote his predictions off as paranoia, ten years later his Padawan encountered one of _them_ and it took his death for the Jedi to finally admit that _they_ had returned, but by then it was too late and the former Jedi Master turned away from the glass encased lightsabers, finding no humor in the irony that one of the Jedi who had tried to warn them of _their_ return had become that which he had warned against.

**74: Fired**

Master Dooku stood at the top of the battlements and observed, with a bad feeling wrenching his gut, as the several thousand warriors beyond the defensive walls of the ancient fortress fired themselves up into a frenzy with battle shouts and clamorous banging of their weaponry upon armor and the ground, and Dooku knew at that moment that tonight was going to be a living hell for the Jedi and the planetary defenders.

**75: Positive**

When the private test results had come back positive and she had quietly told him the ill-timed news of the consequence that resulted from the one night they had given in to their desires and passions, Master Dooku was positively left speechless and neither he nor Madame Nu knew what to do about the child that now grew within her and both feared what the Council might do if they ever found out, thoughts of being expelled or the child taken from them plagued their, but mostly Master Dooku's, minds.

* A shout out to Kynstar's "One Lesson Too Many"


	4. 76 through 100

****_Yeah! The last 25 for this table set. I got another 100 in the works, but the style will change. No more run on sentences. :) Rather, short scenes with dialogue, complete sentences and all that. *nods*  
_

* * *

**76. Baby **

When the Serennian mid-wife had given him the squirming bundle of new life so she could tend to the child's mother, Master Dooku stood frozen as he stared down at the baby boy in his arms, unsure what to do or say to the newly born infant, and when tiny hands reached up to play at the locks that hung over his shoulder and the boy squealed a delightful giggle as he batted the strands, Dooku met the boy's innocent gaze and smiled proudly at him as words finally came to the new father, "My son."

**77. Upset **

He had never been upset before in all the decades he has lived, he hadn't truly been upset when his childhood friend had betrayed him, but when the grief from the loss of his first apprentice (that bright star in the night sky he could turn to and navigate his way back from the darkness) began to overwhelm his calm and stoic exterior, it only took the gentle touch of Jocasta Nu's hand upon his arm to break the walls he had built around himself and force him to admit that he truly was human after all and that he really regretted in failing to make amends with Qui-Gon Jinn before the Force took him far too soon.

**78. Kitchen **

When the sixty year old Jedi Master heard a loud pop quickly followed by a curse coming from the flat's kitchenette, Dooku went to investigate and discovered a sixteen year old Komari Vosa, and the stove, covered in a reddish spice, glaring dangerously at the jar that had fallen from the cabinet before her expression changed to despondency at seeing her master witness her failed attempt to make him dinner, however rather than chastise her, the regal Master merely smiled and went over to help her clean up and start over, and as he did so, he could not but help notice the flush of color to her face and he knew it was _not_ because of mortification.

**79. Winter **

He had been four when he was taken away from his parents and although he remembered little of that day in his life, something about the first snow of a planet's winter season left him despondent and remembering that day every time, that he eventually grew to dislike winter and the first snowfall no matter what planet he was on, even Ilum became a place he loathed.

**80. Ignorant **

"Ignorance beguiles the ignorant," Master Thame Cerulian lectured to a thirteen year old Dooku as the much older Corellian Jedi handed the boy a set of dusty tomes from the more restricted section of the archives, and as Thame continued his lecture on the second line of the Code, the more books he gave to the Padawan until Dooku could not take any more without dropping what he had, thus he interrupted his Master's lesson and cheekily commented grumpily, "There is no Padawan, there is only a book carrier."

**81. Fool **

"Why are we following this old fool?" commented the disconcerted dignitary as he and an amused Qui-Gon Jinn followed his now older, former master through the prison sewers and Dooku looked back with a dirty scowl and answered, "Who is the more foolish, the fool or the one who follows him?"

**82. Afraid **

Count Dooku feared little and of the things he could name that he did fear he could claim we're only three things, betrayal, failure and the Sith Master; but now as he scrambled frantically and very ungracefully away from the abominations that mindlessly craved for the living flesh of Force-sensitives, Count Dooku could add yet one more fear to his repertoire of things to be afraid of: undead Jedi.

**83. Prison **

Humiliation was an emotion he disliked the most, it left him feeling angry and out of control, so when he was dragged from the cell he had found himself in because he had been too slow to react to the threat on his flank, he had no qualms in redirecting his anger and hatred on his captors, thus before the Republic clonetroopers could transfer him from the makeshift prison to the shuttle that awaited for him that would take him back to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple, he had his binders off and with hands gesturing in clawed talons, he savored the cries of panic and gurgles of dying men as he choked the very life out of them.

**84. Sex **

The two Jedi knew what they were doing was considered taboo, not the act itself but the feelings of attachment that led to the act, however neither he nor Jocasta cared at that moment as the last article of evening, theater attire fell to the floor and they allowed themselves to indulge in that which was forbidden to their kind, their love equally as strong as their sensitivity in the Force and perhaps it was because of the Force that they felt everything in the world was right at that moment.

**85. Hate **

He hated Anakin Skywalker simply because the boy was treated as the savior of the galaxy long before he even saved it, thus the unruly man-child's unbecoming behavior for a Jedi were overlooked or forgiven with a simple slap on the hand, that such treatment would never have been offered to him (and hadn't either) had he done half the things that the Chosen One had committed, so he hated the boy with all his passion and knew he would take delight in knocking the young Knight down several pegs before slaying him, satisfying himself and proving to his master once and for all that raw power was nothing in comparison to finesse and grace.

**86. Alarm **

"Master! Get up, hurry or we will miss it," exclaimed his nine year old Padawan, his third apprentice and youngest thus far, and when Master Dooku simply rolled over and away from the boy, groaning and allowing an epithet to escape his lips about over-excited Padawan's resembling annoying alarms, he was not prepared as the boy leapt and landed painfully onto him, scolding him to get up, "Maaaaster! We are _missing_ the comet shower!"

**87. Genius***

Count Dooku glared at the Viceroy as the Neimoidian gaped at him open mouthed after having been caught viewing a rather comical holovid from YouHolo that both poked fun at the Count and General Grievous while at the same time supporting the Separatist cause, and when he walked away after making sure the alien was well and intimidated, he barely heard Gunray mutter under his breath to Hako "...not sure I agree with the vidder anymore that Dooku is the genius and Grievous is insane."

**88. Negative **

His opinion on non-humans was rather negative in his final decades of life, he hadn't always disliked the alien races or held such a low opinion on them, being a Jedi did not allow room for such a line of thought, however as he grew older and the more of the disgraceful behavior he encountered that set them apart from humans, the more he became discouraged to show tolerance and understanding, that eventually he came to believe that humans would not sink so low to commit such acts of disgrace toward each other and therefore were the ideal race to govern the galaxy.

**89. Flood **

He wasn't sure if he should be angry or amused at Qui-Gon when he found the boy struggling with one of his animals in the lavatory that was presently flooded with water from an overflowing tub; however when the boy looked up and gave him a wary grin, he lost both his grip on the animal and his balance and went crashing into the tub with a great splash and when the Master, taking pity on the boy, made the mistake of going over and giving him a hand up, his own boots slipped on the floor and Dooku became as equally soaked as his Padawan, but once several seconds had passed with Qui staring at his indigent scowl, the boy started laughing, and even Dooku, a moment later, could not help but find the situation ridiculous.

**90. Bomb **

There was only a split second warning in the Force before the dignitary stage splintered into a thousand pieces and flames and smoke belched upward from underneath, but that split second had been just enough for the two Jedi Masters and their Padawans to carry those they were protecting out of harms way, however it was a split second too late for Padawan Dooku to leap far enough to keep himself from becoming engulfed in fire instead .

**91. Hospital **

The hospital doctors said he would live, that he had only suffered some burns to his legs and back but he would be pained for the rest of his life, however a young Padawan Dooku, stubbornly attempted to walk to prove them wrong and soon became dismayed at the thought of being unable to move with such agility and speed again, an endurance that Ataru required, and said as much to Master Yoda who in turn replied, "Require little movement, Makashi does. Better for you, it would be. Better control, it would give you and become less stubborn and foolish you would."

**92. Trap **

The trap had sprung and Count Dooku watched as the Kenobi and Skywalker team rushed head long into it knowing perfectly well that it was a trap and for a moment the Count was reminded of another Master and Padawan team that had done the very same thing he witnessed now, equally as foolish and courageous, and quite eager for action and adventure despite the fact that Jedi were not suppose to crave these things, but perhaps being a Jedi was a trap in itself as well for that was all there is in a typical life of a Jedi.

**93. Celebrate **

How Qui-Gon had managed to keep the party, though if you could call two guests a party, a secret, Master Dooku could not say; however when he had entered the flat he and Qui-Gon shared and he was greeted with a joyous 'Surprise!', he was speechless for several long seconds for no one has ever bothered to celebrate his Lifeday, not since the days of the crèche and Lorian, and being reminded of that pirate turned his shock into a scowl and much to the confusion of Qui-Gon, Tahl and Jocasta, he spun on his heel and slowly _fled_.

**94. Old **

He was old by human standards, but he moved like a man half his age, so he did not like to think that he was old, he certainly did not require or need the aid of a staff like his first master had nor did he use a cane like his second master, both Jedi who were far older than him, and in the case of Master Yoda, several centuries older, and even then he knew they could defy the logic of the universe and move like the young when they wanted to, but now as he fought both Kenobi and Skywalker aboard the _Invisible Hand_, he was beginning to feel his age as his body tired and he drew on the Force more and more to give him the strength to defeat these two Jedi and he feared that it might not be enough.

**95. Disappear **

For ten years he had lived in darkness and obscurity and often wondered if his old master and companions cared enough about him to wonder what had become of him after he had disappeared from the galactic stage, that if they would come looking for him to see if he was well, and when they had not even made the attempt to even leave a message at his Serenno estate, it was the final nail in the coffin of their betrayal and he was now completely devoted to his new master and the Grand Plan.

**96. Death**

The first time he came to realize that Jedi were not invincible and the Force was not all powerful, happened on his seventeenth Lifeday when Master Thame Cerulian had passed into the Force in the middle of the night after seventy-six long years of service to the Jedi Order, and a young Dooku was wary in becoming Master Yoda's apprentice, fearing that Death would claim the old troll before he could complete his own trials and he would become the charity Padawan.

**97. Myth**

His entire training had been around the history and lore of the Jedi and Sith, and although he had come to loathe his apprenticeship under Thame Cerulian, he would come to thank the old Corellian's ghost decades later when he went looking for the myth of the Dark Reaper and found it on a lost Sith world.

**98. Wealthy**

When he first came into his family's vast fortune, he had not known what to do with it all, for as long as he could remember he had been poor with only a monthly allowance given to him by the Order; and when he finally got over of having lived such a spartan life, the first thing he had purchased was a private estate away from his family's land and the workers to renovate one of it's towers into a museum to honor and house the eleven lightsaber hilts of the Jedi he had lost at the Battle of Galidraan.

**99. Drugged**

Master Dooku squinted at the bright light shining overhead, he did not recognize where he was, his vision blurred by whatever cocktail his captors had given him (he was certain he was a prisoner even though he does not recall ever being captured, in fact the last thing he remembered was talking to his Padawan about something to do with something he couldn't even recall right now), but that did not stop him from rolling out of the bed he was in (and quite befuddled as to why he wasn't strapped down and thinking the Force was with him that his captors were too stupid to think a simple drug was enough to hold him) and stumbled drunkenly toward the door (both glad that his Padawan wasn't present and wondering at the same time where he was), that he failed to notice that he was dressed in a medical gown with his sword arm securely slung against his chest and only when he was _caught_ by Master Ioyna in trying to sneak out of the Healer's Ward, did he finally remember what had happened to him and made a mental note (which he would later forget) to never underestimate the cleverness of his Padawan's pranks.

**100. Rest**

Tionne Solusar bowed before the aged holocron of Yan Dooku (appearing as he was in his final years dressed as one of the Counts of Serenno but lacking the cold evil that plagued his soul in his final hours) after he had finished telling her of his life's story, and as he spoke his gratitude, Tionne could feel in the Force the sincerity and warmth in the man's voice as he spoke, "Thank you for listening, child. I can now rest knowing that I have been heard and will not be forgotten," and with those parting words he faded from sight and the Jedi historian knew then that she had not been listening to a holocron.

* Some time ago I had found on YouTube a vid called "Dooku and Grievous - Pinky and the Brain" that was done using TCW clips. It was pure genius and unfortunately the vidder had either gotten banned or closed his account because it is no longer there. I regret not saving the darn thing.


	5. 101 Phobia

_New prompt table. This time they're short vigs. Enjoy._

* * *

**101**

**Phobia**

Master Dooku was not afraid of anything except perhaps one thing. Fear of being betrayed by someone he trusted. Perhaps that is why he never got close to people, he was afraid of feeling the pain of Lorian Nod all over again. But had someone told him when he had been a boy that attachment was as inevitable as eventual betrayal, he might have overcome his phobia of misplacing his trust a lot sooner.

He could have coped with rejection a lot easier then too. "Padawan, what part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand?"

"Um..." the fourteen year old muttered uncertainly. The scowl he received from his moody master told him he should leave but that part of him that was rebellious insisted he should stay. The Force was also whispering in his ear or perhaps it was the little, colorful avian he had perched on his shoulder instead. Either one, he felt he needed to stay and get his master over having been stood up.

"Go," Dooku growled and pulled the covers of his comforter over his head in an attempt to block out the boy's warm deposition.

"No, Master," Qui said and moved to pull the covers off. "You've been in here long enough. You need to get out or we both will go bonkers!"

Dooku held onto the covers and yanked them back, however he was not ready for the boy to lift up the mattress next to upend him out of bed. "Qui-Gon!" he thundered and as he scrambled to put on a tunic and a robe to look somewhat decent, Qui-Gon was already out the door of their flat running with enhanced speed.

The little avian squawked in protest overhead as the Jedi Master chased after the impudent boy, muttering curses. The two Jedi dashed past several others as they sprinted down the halls of the residential section of the Temple.

Only when they reached the Jedi Archives did the Jedi Master stop his pursuit and hesitated. Qui-Gon glanced back at him and gave him a cheeky 'come and get me' grin.

The Master scowled but he did not enter. "Impudent whelp! Go ahead and hide in there, you will have to come out eventually!"

"What's the matter, Master Dooku? Surely you are not afraid?" taunted the boy. He was about to say more when he suddenly found himself being yanked unceremoniously by the Force into the waiting grip of his infuriated master. Qui-Gon swallowed, thinking that his little plan might have overstepped some bounds but he was rescued by the one person he hoped would show up.

"Master Dooku!" called the one voice the master had not wanted to hear. He let go of his apprentice and looked up at the owner of the voice as she approached from inside the Archives. Dooku glanced to his left and right looking for an avenue of escape, but he was too slow in moving. "What do you think you are doing upsetting the tranquility of the Archives?"

"I... um.. Qui-Gon, he..." he tried but couldn't find the words to explain what was going on. Her scowl had him looking down, his cheeks burning with shame for his behavior. A master did not go chasing his Padawan through the Temple and yanking them about with the Force. But the boy deserved it, he had been egging him on and for what? To cause this encounter with the one person he did not want to see right now?

"He's moping, Madame Nu, about the evening two nights ago and I can't stand it any longer." Qui-Gon piped up and received a cuff against his ear for it by his master. Jocasta gave them both an exasperated look before rolling her eyes at them and meeting Dooku's dark eyes.

"Why are you upset about me having to stay longer in the Archives to help Master Ulthan with his restoration project?" she asked of him and then saw the confusion in his face. "You did receive my message that night, didn't you?"

"Um... What message?" Neither master noticed as Qui-Gon began to sneak away, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"The one I sent an hour before dinner explaining I could not come?" Jocasta sighed softly from her friend's head shake. "Oh Yan, don't tell me you thought I stood you up?"

He reached back to rub at his neck sheepishly. "I... yes, I did. I thought you did." Dooku let go an audible sigh when she reached up to stroke his bearded cheek tenderly and resisted the urge to kiss her palm in front of the Archives. Bad enough that this scene was happening there in the first place.

"I wonder why you didn't get my message," she asked a moment later and Dooku wondered the same thing. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed _someone_ was missing.

"I am certain that a cheeky Padawan of mine has something to do with it." His mood had improved significantly when he realized she hadn't betrayed his heart after all. The Jedi Master glanced at her and quirked an inviting black eyebrow at her. "Shall we go find out?"

"As long as it does not involve the Archives," she pointed out and he laughed softly.

"Of course. Though I was thinking of trouncing my Padawan in a training salon once I caught him." She rolled her blue eyes at him and then followed to help catch an elusive apprentice.


	6. 102 Addict

**102**

**Addict**

"How long?" Master Dooku asked of the Devronian Healer, a stern expression on his face even though he radiated concern.

"Since he was not exposed for long, a month or two," answered the horned Jedi, his beady eyes turning to the subject of the conversation. The young man inside the pristine white cell rocked back and forth, clutching his knees to his chest. His long hair and scraggly beard were soaked with sweat as his sleep-deprived, blue eyes darted around the room.

It pained Dooku to see his former Padawan like this and regretted not being there in time to spare him the pain. "What did they inject him with?"

"A cocktail of deathsticks and Kessel spice. He's lucky they didn't overdose him." Dooku frowned at the combination. His hands fisted underneath the sleeves of his cloak.

"How is his Padawan doing?"

"Padawan Feemor?" confirmed the Devronian.

"Yes, unless he's changed Padawans without telling me," snidely remarked Dooku. The Healer scowled at him a bit. "That is his name."

"Padawan Feemor is healing well. He should be up and about sooner than his master." The Devronian watched as Master Dooku approached the cell and placed a hand on the glass separating the patient from the outside world. "He will say things he will not mean, Master Dooku. The drugs..."

"I know the symptoms of drug withdrawal," the Master curtly snapped without turning his attention away from the Jedi. "All too well," he added just barely above a whisper. He said nothing else as he stared quietly at his Padawan and then reached out to their fading bond.

Dooku winced the moment he found Qui-Gon on the other end and the young man desperately grasped onto it like a drowning womprat trying to cling to driftwood in a flood. There eyes met through the glass and Dooku sensed an insidious hunger, a craving for the drug that was being denied to him.

The master reached up to his temple as a buzzing sensation throbbed inside his head. He heard someone shout at somebody or was it him that he was being shouted at? He couldn't tell since the world began to spin and saw the floor become the ceiling. The craving was still there and he hungered for the sensations the spices offered.

The pain would not stop until his addiction was satisfied.

The Devronian came into his field of vision and Dooku wondered how the Jedi was walking on the ceiling.

The pain would not stop...

The Healer injected his neck with something, his black lips promising something. Something about it being alright.

The pain...

Darkness was a welcoming sight.


	7. 103 Dance

**103**

**Dance**

"Lightsaber combat is like a ballroom dance," Jedi Master Dooku explained, his emerald green saber lit and held at his side in the traditional Makashi en garde. "There can be a single partner or several and all which must know the steps or fall trying to stay with the flow of the music."

"Then just get up," commented a youngling who looked like he was about to be on his last year before he would be sent to the Service Corps. He shrank underneath the scowl the older Jedi gave him and cast his green eyes down.

"Unlike a ballroom dance there are rarely chances for you to get back up," Dooku warned and twirled his lightsaber once at his side before motioning to a younger Knight nearby. He ignited his own green bladed weapon and stood ready in an Ataru stance. "Qui-Gon here will help me demonstrate exactly how fluid dueling is and how one misstep can cost you the fight."

"Just go easy on me, Master," asked the younger man. "I don't think my pride will be able to handle a good trouncing by you in front of these younglings."

Dooku chuckled and saluted his former Padawan. "I make no promises, Padawan." He wasted not another word as he caught Qui-Gon by surprise with an airborne somersault forward and the two Jedi dueled across the salon in front of the younglings.

"I thought you hated lightsaber theatrics," hissed Qui-Gon as he fought Dooku for dominance in the saber lock. The older Jedi merely smirked back at him and pulled away with a push against his opponent and a spin.

Emerald green slashed around when he completed the three-sixty turn and met the lighter green of Qui-Gon. "I do, but that doesn't mean I won't use it to my advantage, my old apprentice."

"Old? Look who's talking _old man_," quipped Qui. He flipped over his master and spun around to catch the strike at his back before spinning again to try and cleave his Master's legs. Dooku leapt over the blade and brought his downward in which Qui-Gon blocked and pushed back.

"You're letting me win," Qui-Gon said after a moment of forcing his master back with a series of powerful swings.

"Well you did ask me to go easy on you." Qui-Gon rolled his eyes at his master. Dooku forced another saber lock and pushed back against him. "I could up the ante a bit if you like?"

Qui scowled at the mocking tone and did something unexpected and unbecoming of a Jedi, but something Dooku would later admit was completely in Qui-Gon's character to do so. He relaxed on the lock, letting his Master's momentum carry him forward just as his right hand left the saber hilt and hooked his master in the jaw.

Dooku stumbled back and into the benches behind him, completely stunned by the dirty trick. He groaned as he gripped the bench to haul himself upright and stared up at a humming, green blade in his face.

"That was downright dirty and dishonorable, Qui-Gon," chided the master. He glared at the cheeky grin he got in return.

"Sometimes, master, lightsaber combat isn't always a fluid dance but a down right dirty, cantina brawl."

"Brat."

The younglings snickered.


	8. 104 Missing

**104**

**Missing**

Qui-Gon Jinn's master was missing. He was certain of it. When the older Jedi had not reported on schedule during a solo mission to the Outer Rim, the young Padawan grew worried and brought his fears before the Council. But the Council had dismissed the missed check in as a habit of Dooku's and that he would check in at the next scheduled time.

However when Dooku had not made contact at the next hour, Qui-Gon had absolutely no doubt that something was wrong. So he recruited his best friend, Tahl, to go find the missing Jedi Knight.

It took them two weeks, and a warning from the Council to return to the Temple, to find him. He had been captured by a gang of swoop bikers who sold him to Zygerrian slavers who then sold him into slavery to waste away his remaining years in the spice mines of Kessel that was controlled by a Hutt.

After a harrowing break out, in which involved the sabotage of mining equipment and setting other slaves free (upon Qui-Gon's insistence), and the disabling of both a Force inhibitor and a slave collar, Yan Dooku was relieved to finally be leaving the hell hole that Kessel had become for him.

But after they had departed into hyperspace and were well on their way back to Coruscant, Qui-Gon Jinn allowed himself to be persuaded in to making a detour for Serenno instead. While he and Tahl had been looking for the missing master, Dooku had gained an unhealthy taste for the raw spice he had been forced to mine.

Refusing to go back to the Temple in this state, Dooku insisted on controlling his cravings in the seclusion and safety of his family's ancestral home. "I will... not be seen... weak," he had said.

"But Master, the Healers can help you," insisted Qui-Gon.

"No!" he thundered and both Padawans took a step back from his temper. "I... don't need their ... help."

"Madame Nu will be worried, Master Dooku." Tahl had tried but apparently bringing up her master whom she knew was intimate with Qui-Gon's master, was the wrong thing to say.

Dooku reached out for her and took her by the front of her tunic and growled, "Do not tell her anything! She... She doesn't need to know." He let his apprentice pry him from the girl and lay him back in the medical bunk. "She... She cannot know."

The two Padawans glanced at each other as the Master's voice cracked under the strain of emotions and the early symptoms of withdrawal. "We won't tell her," Qui-Gon promised.

"Good," he whispered, exhaustion overcoming him finally. "... trust you... Pada... wa... an."


	9. 105 Cruise

**105**

**Cruise**

"This is _not_ what I had in mind when I said I wanted to relax, Padawan," complained Master Dooku as he dumped the traveler's bag onto the bunk of the small cabin he was going to share with a much older Qui-Gon Jinn.

"You can relax in Madame Nu's _library_ any time, Master." Qui-Gon quipped and received a glare for his trouble. The Jedi Knight plopped down onto the other bunk and folded his arms under his head. "Besides it's only a five day cruise and it would be a good social experience for you."

"Social experience? Qui-Gon I don't need help with my social skills."

"Then why is it that Madame Nu and I are your _only_ friends?" he asked of the older man. Dooku said nothing as he explored the cabin, both to see what accommodations they had and to distract himself from the current topic. Unfortunately his former Padawan could be as stubborn as he. "Well?"

"Well what?" Dooku rhetorically answered from the refresher.

"You know what."

"You know _why_."

"Master," Qui-Gon's voice was much closer and Dooku glanced back at him as the young Jedi stood in the doorway of the refresher. "You can't let that one experience hold you back from discovering and enjoying friendship."

"I _don't_," the master snarled and pushed past his apprentice. If this was how this _vacation_ was going to be like, he wanted off now before the ship disembarked from its dock. But a hand on his shoulder stopped him from leaving the room.

"Just... humor me and not hole yourself up in here the entire week. You might, Force forbid, enjoy yourself." Dooku glared at him but it softened after a few moments at the patient look he received from the Jedi. His shoulders lightened under Qui's grip.

"Alright, but do not make me be friends with these people," he surrendered.

Qui-Gon smiled, "I wouldn't dream of it. Now let's go cruise the ship's cantina, who knows maybe you will like someone."

"Doubt it," remarked Dooku. "I do not cruise cantinas."

Qui-Gon laughed and put an arm around his Master's shoulders as they headed out of the cabin together. "No, you cruise the Archives instead."

Dooku's cheeks burned at the implication of what he exactly does in the Archives. "I do _not_!"

Qui-Gon barked mirthfully.


	10. 106 Careen

**106**

**Careen**

"I know what I am doing," argued a young Dooku. He flicked his Padawan braid back over his ear as he tapped several keys on his datapad. The device was connected to a training droid. "Once I'm finished reprogramming these droids, we can sneak out and head for the bazaar and our chores will be done for us."

"I don't know, Yan," replied a young girl that was probably no older than him. Her concerned blue eyes met his as he finished up with the task. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"What could possibly go wrong?" Dooku threw her a confident grin and closed the paneling on the last droid. "Besides, Jo, they are only going to be sorting and cleaning the equipment."

He flipped the switches on all the droids with a flick of the Force. Together the two Padawans watched as his cleverness began doing their chores as if the machines were meant to do them all along.

"See? Nothing to it," Dooku took Jocasta gently by the wrist and started to lead her out of the training salon. They had only gotten a few dozen feet when they heard a loud bang and crash from the salon. They and several other Jedi paused at the noise and he and Jocasta looked at each other with worry.

"Oh no..." Together they ran back just in time to see one droid careen wildly into another, dropping the equipment it had been carrying. Another droid was trying to carry off another training droid in which that one perceived it's carrier a threat and was firing it's low-powered blaster cannons at it. "Stop you stupid droids!"

"Yan, don't!" Jocasta cried when he rushed in to pry the two droids apart. She hurried to his side when one of the machines grabbed and held on to him and tried to free him without hurting him. There was the smell of smoke and the Padawans looked up to see a pile of dueling equipment on fire after a droid had fired into it repeatedly.

"We need to get out of here!" choked Dooku.

"Go no where, you shall not, Padawan." There was a flash of a green lightsaber bouncing around the room and before Dooku could fall to his knees coughing and rubbing at his neck, the chaos of the haywire training droids ended with the machines severed where they had stood. Jocasta was at his side as he sat up to stare in the disappointed face of his master.

"Master." Dooku swallowed. He was in a lot of trouble and they both knew it. "I can explain..."

"Explain you need not," began the small master. Yoda leaned on his cane and gestured with a clawed hand at the mess. "Delegate your chores you attempted to do. Instead, create more for you and Padawan Nu. Clean this chamber you will and this time properly you shall. Discuss your cleverness later we will."

Dooku hung his head. "Yes, my master." When Yoda did not leave, the two Padawans knew he would see to it that they did do their chores this time.

As Dooku began to pick up pieces of destroyed equipment, Jocasta came over and placed an affectionate kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for trying."

He blushed and gave her a sheepish smile.


	11. 107 Psychic

**107**

**Psychic**

Master Dooku was amused by the Ryn's offer to read his future with a deck of Centran sabacc cards. "What could it hurt to hear what a deck has to say of the future?"

"What indeed, Your Grace," replied the medium in its unique musical trill.

"I am no patrician," he replied as he sat down at the cloth covered table that was simply a crate with a worn cloak thrown over it. He could see a pack with the Ryn's belongings hidden behind another.

"Roma sees you are of the blue blood, even if His Grace does not live the life. So Roma will be respectful." The alien handed him the deck.

As he shuffled the cards, he attempted to correct the Ryn, "Then if you must address me as something, Master Jedi will do. As I said I am no patrician regardless of blood."

"Humility does not suit His Grace," trilled the Ryn.

Dooku sighed softly when he realized he was going to get nowhere with the gypsy. He finished shuffling the deck and handed it back to the Ryn. "Yet a Jedi must be humble before his fellows or arrogance begets darkness."

"Wise words for people of such power." Roma spread the deck into a half moon over the table before gesturing at the face-down cards. "Every choice we make affects the outcome of our future. Choose wisely for we all only get one chance at our future."

Dooku nodded and closed his eyes. He allowed the Force to guide him in his decision, his hand hovering over the cards before he chose one. He did not flip it over, instead gave it to the Ryn in which he set it face down on the table to the side.

"Now two more."

The Jedi Master chose two more and handed them over before finally opening his eyes and meeting those of the Ryn.

"The future holds many possibilities..." he began and flipped the first card over and Dooku scowled at the image of a Sith Lord glaring back up at him. "Hmm The Evil One, the card of darkness and your ancient enemies, the Sith. There will be darkness in your life, however it could mean many things."

"Such as?" he humored the Ryn.

"That you will fall into darkness, darkness shall influence your decisions, or darkness shall surround you." Roma tapped the face of the card. "Or the Sith is in your future."

"The Sith are extinct and I have never and shall never be tempted by the Darkside." This was one of the reasons he disliked sabacc reading. It was vague and played more on the subject's own knowledge and status than actually telling the future. Jedi Seers were more accurate.

"Ah, but Roma cannot say until the other cards have been turned. Only then will a more accurate reading be determined." The Jedi said nothing and gestured for the medium to turn the next card.

A moon was revealed and the Ryn trilled a hissed, "The Satellite." Dooku knew what the card meant but not what it would mean with the other one. "With The Evil One, you will be deceived and betrayed by darkness."

"A common theme and a risk we all must take when dealing with the galaxy." There was a tightness to his tone that the Ryn noticed.

"Roma sees His Grace has experienced such before..." the Ryn commented, his fingers on the last card but he did not flip it yet. "A past betrayal."

"We all are betrayed at one point or another in our lives." Dooku's gaze narrowed, his tone clearly saying he did not want to discuss the subject of his past. But either the Ryn did not get the hint or he felt it was necessary to discuss it.

"For you it was personal. Someone close to you betrayed you."

The Jedi Master stood abruptly, clearly irritated with the topic and the Ryn. "Enough. I did not agree to a reading to bring up things best left buried. Good day, sir." Dooku dropped a couple credits onto the cards and turned on his heel, his cloak bellowing behind him as he hurried, but gracefully away from the gypsy alien.

Roma blinked in mild surprise before shaking his head and turning the third card. "The Idiot. He will be deceived by darkness and never realize it until it is too late."


	12. 108 Insomniac

**108**

**Insomniac**

"Eludes you again, sleep does, hmm?" Jedi Master Dooku started at the voice of his former master. The green troll sat on a bench in the massive gardens of the Temple, his cane drawing patterns into the soft dirt beneath his dangling, bare feet. He hadn't looked up at his pupil when he had spoken nor did he when said pupil turned to face him.

"Master," Dooku breathed, willing his heart to calm. It was not often someone got the jump on him, much less he failing to notice someone else in a room he was entering. But he had this time and he scowled at his lack of awareness.

"For a remedy, asked the Healers have you?" the little master continued.

Dooku shook his head. "I have before and what they give tastes like something they scrounged up from the trash compactor. It also does not work."

"Know what is in the compactors, only you do." He scowled at the amused chuckle Yoda allowed himself.

"Yes, all the more reason I refuse to take what the Healers offer," he hadn't meant to sneer but being reminded of the misadventure so long ago left a bitter taste in his mouth and a tightness in his chest. He did not want to be reminded of _him_. Especially so soon after the incident with the kidnappers.

"Hmm. Troubled you are, my Padawan. Sit. Tell old Yoda and perhaps help you I can." The master gestured with his cane to the space beside him and Dooku gave an exasperated sigh. Sometimes he wondered if the old troll purposely placed himself in the path he would take when he had his moments of sleeplessness. He always seemed to be there when he needed to talk.

The young master moved to sit and tucked his legs underneath him. Dooku said nothing as time slowly passed them both by. He stared defiantly into the gardens, refusing to speak about what was keeping him awake. Although he wanted to talk, it was not easy for him to confide in anyone, much less his old master who seemed to know what was troubling him anyway.

Yoda said nothing more, he simply continued to create patterns in the dirt while he patiently waited for Dooku to begin. The former student knew they would be there all night if something wasn't said.

A weary sigh escaped the human and he allowed his head to hang in thought. When he spoke, his voice was full of quiet anger. "Am I doomed to be betrayed by every friend I make, master?"

The cane stilled and the little master looked up at his student. "Upset you are, about Eero Iridian part in Lorian's scheme." It was not a question.

"Upset only begins to describe how I feel, master. I trusted him, I even helped him with his bloody political career and this is how he repays me? Endangers my life and that of my Padawan and for what?! That double crossing, lying ... Ow!" Dooku rubbed the swelling knot on his head where Yoda deftly smacked him with the cane. He glared at the little master but could not keep the look under the stern, disappointed stare he received. He hated that look. It always made him feel like he was being a fool.

"There is no emotion, there is peace," recited the old master. He set his cane in his lap and closed his large eyes. Dooku could feel the Force wrapping around the troll and understood what the master wanted him to do and realized that he had lost his calm center with his rant.

So he followed him into a meditative trance and stayed there until he regained control of his emotions. The tightness in his chest lifted and the anger dissipated into the Force. All that remained was a calm swirl, like a wisp of the wind on a mid-summer day.

"I am sorry, master, for my outburst," Dooku calmly said after a while and looked to the little Jedi, uncertainly.

Yoda nodded slightly. "Part of life, betrayals are. Learn to let go you must, Padawan."

"It is difficult." He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "Perhaps it is best to be alone. At least you cannot betray yourself."

He gently poked the taller Jedi with a clawed finger. "Alone you do not have to be. Friends always have, you will, if you let them."

"Why? I will just be betrayed again and again. Everyone is out for themselves. Lorian taught me that."

"Betray you I would not." There was a kind sadness in the Master's face when he said this. "Promise you this I do."

"You should not make such a promise," Dooku warned, though a part of him wanted to believe that he could always rely on the little master to stay true to him.

"Should or should not, my decision it is." Yoda placed a hand on his arm. "Your friend will I always be, my Padawan."

Dooku did not reply. He knew only time would tell if his master kept his promise or not. A yawn escaped him and he decided that tomorrow he could allow himself to trust that promise.


	13. 109 Bath

**109**

**Bath**

The steam rose up in great clouds, obscuring the vision of the two older men who sat on cooler benches in the bath house, robed only in thin towels around the waist. The gaseous liquid made it difficult to make out who they were however there was no mistaking the voices as they conversed about schemes and the rising darkness. A darkness that also permeated throughout the sauna, around and between the two individuals.

It made the sauna a little cooler than it should have been.

"As instructed, Syfo-Dias has been... removed," the baritone voice of the taller man answered the shorter man's inquiry concerning the Jedi. There was a hint of regret in his tone as he spoke of what had been done, as if he disagreed.

"I sense you haven't quite carried it out as expected of you, Tyranus." The threat was there but the older man did not rise at the implication of what might happen if he lied. So Tyranus surprised his master with the truth.

"You commanded that I eliminate him," he answered in a mildly impudent tone. "From a certain point of view I did as I was _instructed_." He didn't flinch under the cold glare he knew he was receiving but could not see due to the steam. He was grateful for it. His master made him uncomfortable.

"From a certain point of view you have disobeyed me," Sidious countered, amused by the older man. "What have you done?"

Here Tyranus sighed heavily, the regret returning as he spoke. "He is in stasis, hidden away where no Jedi will find him."

"That is not exactly eliminating him."

"No, but he is _removed_ and poses no threat to our plans, master."

"Why?" questioned the steam veiled Sith.

"Master Dias may prove useful in the future." He knew Sidious was not convinced. He was not convinced either. The truth be told, he could not bring himself to kill a friend who had trusted him. It reminded him of another man he had once called a friend but truly hadn't been. The part of him that was still a Jedi could not allow him to walk that same path.

"I sense conflict in you, Tyranus. You spared a friend, not a useful tool." Tyranus flinched at the harshness in Sidious voice. The younger man was not pleased.

"What does it matter how he is dealt with, only that he is?" He had not meant to raise his voice defensively, he was simply unused to having his actions questioned like this. The Council, at least, showed a measure of respect and somewhat understanding when they had questioned him. Sidious on the other hand, did not simply question, he berated and accused and it angered him.

"If I cannot rely on you, my apprentice, then I will find someone whom I can." Tyranus bristled at the threat of being replaced. He knew it was an inevitability with the Sith, but he had not expected to be replaced so soon though. There was still much to learn and to do.

"That will be unnecessary, Master," he finally said once he had calmed himself. There was only one way to pacify Sidious. "If you command it, I... will kill the Jedi."

"But with much reluctance."

"Regardless, the deed would be done."

Tyranus caught the shake of the younger man's head through the wall of steam hiding them. "An unnecessary task in the end. You did as commanded even if the end result is disagreeable. Though you may be right in your foresight. The Jedi may prove useful in the future."

"How so?"

"Only time will tell, my friend."


	14. 110 Secret

**110**

**Secret**

"Can you keep a secret?" asked the young boy to the young girl of equal age.

"Yes," she replied. The boy scooted closer to the girl on the bench they sat on in the park and whispered in her ear whatever it was that was so important he dared not tell her without assurance.

Yan Dooku, Count of Serenno, watched as the girl giggled at whatever the boy had told her before they got up and ran off at the call from their mothers. Like the two children, he had his own secrets but had no one to confide them to. He once had such people, friends he had trusted just enough to unload his burdens, but that was long ago and now he had no one.

The innocence of trading such knowledge reminded him of better, happier times.

_"Can you keep a secret?" echoed the words of the boy in his own young voice. He was with Lorian, a few years before the inevitable betrayal of his trust and heart. They were in the Archives, in the back near one of the large windows that overlooked the Temple courtyard._

_"Of course," replied the blonde haired boy. He gave his friend a dubious look, telling him that he was being daft. Looking back he always wondered why Lorian hadn't told anyone else, it certainly would have earned him the master he had so desired and he, Dooku, would have been the one to end up in Bandomeer instead, surely._

_He remembered hesitating before he found the courage to tell Lorian what he knew that he had not wanted anyone else to find out. "I am Sith," he had whispered ever so quietly and shamefully that his friend almost hadn't heard him._

_"Nonsense!" exclaimed the boy next to him. "You don't look or feel like one."_

_Dooku scowled. "What would you know what a Sith looks or feels like?" he had countered angrily. Lorian merely grinned at him and put a hand on his arm._

_"What makes you believe you are?" he asked back._

_The dark haired boy blinked and hesitated, his cheeks reddening a little in embarrassment. "My family descends from one."_

_"Oh."_

_"So by blood I am Sith."_

_"You certain of that?" Lorian cocked his head to the side and stared at his friend curiously. Dooku saw none of the revulsion he had expected in a fellow Jedi learning the truth about someone. It confused him._

_"Yes. I did some research on my homeworld and family. Serenno had been annexed by the Sith Empire during the time of the Treaty of Coruscant*. For a time the Sith were prolific on my planet and one married the daughter of House Serenni, starting House Dooku." The child took a deep breath and let it out when he finished explaining his reasoning behind his belief. "By blood I am Sith and that means I could... could fall."_

_"Never!" declared his friend as the blonde boy stood up before him. "Just because you descend from one does not mean you will become one, Yan. Besides, I would beat you up and tie you down before I let you fall to the Darkside! Remember what we agreed we would do once we became Knights?"_

_"We would scour the galaxy and hunt the Sith and darksiders?" Dooku answered, warmed by the vehemence of his friend's loyalty to him._

_"Right!" Lorian clapped his friend on the shoulder. "And Sith do not hunt Sith! So that makes you what?"_

_"A Jedi."_

_"Exactly!" he said cheerily. "You are a Jedi regardless of blood, remember that."_

_Dooku nodded, grinning but then it faded as worry etched his face once more. "You will tell no one, right?"_

_Lorian placed a hand over his heart. "On my life."_

_The two boys grinned like children sharing a secret before they ran off at the call from their crèche master..._

"You were wrong," whispered the Count of Serenno and secretly the second Sith Lord. The irony was not lost on him that a Sith had started his line and that a Sith now ended it. "I _am_ Sith."

* Serenno was annexed by Darth Malgis during the reemergence of the Sith Empire 3000+ years ago.


	15. 111 Coma

**111**

**Coma**

Qui-Gon Jinn stared impassively at the comatose form of his former master as the man floated in the bacta tank. He had just returned from a mission with Feemor when Tahl had told him in few words that his master had been grievously hurt on his own mission. At first he had been reluctant to come and visit the man after the argument they had shared months before, but Tahl eventually convinced him to come.

When he found out the details of what had happened and that the older Jedi had slipped into a coma from succumbing to the severity of his injuries, Qui-Gon discovered, much to his shame, that he was glad the Jedi Master would not be conscious during his visit.

The younger master stepped closer to the bacta tank and studied his mentor through the viridian liquid. He mused quietly at how the man looked to be the most at peace when he slept or was knocked unconscious, and that not once had he ever seen such serenity from him before whenever he was awake.

To describe Jedi Master Dooku's presence in the Force was to compare it to a quiet summer storm. He would appear from a distance the ideal Jedi, calm and centered but once he was riled, it became apparent that he was anything but. Like the deceptive summer storm, his master would become a thunderous, flashy cacophony of the Force, the only sign of his self-control and calm center was in his sword play and self-restraint.

His master was powerful in the Force and often times Qui-Gon wondered why he hadn't slipped into the waiting embrace of the Darkside. He had seen the signs, the potential for him to fall when he had been the man's apprentice and yet here he was, still a champion of the Light.

"Because you kept him there," he whispered aloud. He wondered whether the man would remain with the Light now that his second Padawan had been slain on the same mission that left him floating in bacta and in a coma. Qui-Gon wondered what had happened and if his master had given in or not.

Dooku would not admit to having attachments, but Qui-Gon knew better than to believe him. Although his own relationship with the Jedi Master had been distant, but not cold, as it was to be expected between a master and Padawan; it took him until his own Padawan to realize that Dooku had cared. He had kept his feelings tightly woven within to protect himself from the pain that they could cause, but that fear did not stop the master from risking his life and career for his student. The incident in the Ivatch system had proven that.

"Qui-Gon," said a woman behind him. He turned to see Madame Nu entering the room and saw the worry etched in her carefully placed impassive mask. "It's good to see you here."

"I think he would disagree," the younger Jedi replied.

"Nonsense." She came over to stand next to him and placed a gentle hand on his arm. He smiled softly at her compassion. "He still cares about you regardless of what may have been said between you."

Qui-Gon lowered his head. "I do not think he would after what had been said."

"He can be a bit... stubborn sometimes," she coolly stated before stepping closer to the Jedi Master being discussed. "But give him time and he will come around and if not, I will _persuade_ him." Jocasta gave the young master a playful smile and Qui-Gon had a fair idea how exactly she would persuade his master to make amends with him.

"Then I hope for his sake, he does." Qui-Gon laughed a little but then grew somber. "Do you know what happened?"

She knew what he was asking and Jocasta sighed remorsefully. "Yes. He and Gamor were ambushed as they were leaving the negotiations. The party that opposed change had hired Mandalorian mercenaries to deal with your Master. Padawan Gamor was simply collateral."

"So Master Dooku was the target then?" Qui-Gon asked and the archivist nodded. The Jedi Master frowned deeply. "That will not sit well with him. He will blame himself for Gamor's death."

"And he will need his friends to help him through it," Jocasta subtly reminded as she made it sound like a suggestion. She gave the rogue master a curious look, no doubt wondering if he would be willing to set aside their differences to offer his friendship.

"First he needs to wake up."

"He will," Jocasta smiled wistfully and placed a hand on the bacta tank. The Jedi Master within stirred slightly and Qui-Gon suspected that she knew his master had already come out of his coma some time ago.


	16. 112 Suicide

**112**

**Suicide**

"You're mad!" exclaimed the Weequay above him. Perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn't. All Master Dooku knew was that this pirate could not be allowed to succeed in his plot to destroy the peace he and Qui-Gon had worked hard, had shed blood even, to achieve on Ivatch. Even if it meant plunging to his death several hundred feet into a watery chasm below. So long as he took the alien with him.

So long as he got to avenge Qui-Gon.

The memory of the young man falling to the alien's vibroblade stabbed him in the heart and he felt the grief choking in his throat as he tried to suppress the emotion. He lost his Padawan, the boy he had so eagerly taken on and proudly raised. This was suppose to be their last mission together as Master and Padawan. He was going to recommend the young man for the Trials. He was not suppose to be burying the boy and returning to the Temple as a failed master.

Dooku stilled his face from showing his emotions and pursed his lips into a thin line of determination. Gripping the leg he held on to with a tighter two hand grip, the grieving Jedi twisted his body so he could plant his booted feet against the rock face of the valley cliff. The roar of the nearby waterfall drowned out most other sounds but he could still hear the pirate and his own heartbeat. He could feel the panic in the alien as he began to tug and pull in order to loosen the man's grip on the rocks.

"Stop!" cried the alien. He began kicking at Master Dooku with his free foot. The boot connected solidly with his face and something audibly cracked. The master lost his grip and traction, slipping down the leg until his hand clasped the ankle firmly.

Dooku hung by one hand in a daze and shook his head to clear it. He could feel the heel of the alien digging repeatedly into his remaining grip to try and jar him loose but he held on stead fast. Blood trickled down into his dark beard from his nose but he didn't let the pain and dizziness faze him. He would take this _murderer_ with him into the dark abyss below and nothing would stop him.

"Master!" came a cry from somewhere above him. He was imagining it. It could not be Qui-Gon, the boy was dead. Dooku regained his grip and footing and pulled again.

"Help! He's mad! Suicidal!" Perhaps he was.

"Master, stop!" And delusional on top of it. He didn't want to look up and be disappointed. His Padawan was dead. Wasn't he? He looked up anyway and blinked the spray of the waterfall from his eyes in disbelief. Above them was his Padawan, favoring his side and staring down at them in fear. "Don't do it!"

"Padawan?" he shouted back up, as loudly as he could over the din of the falls next to them. He stretched out in the Force, reopening the bond he had not realized had been closed. He felt Qui-Gon reach out and grip his mind in a warm, reassuring embrace.

_/I am alright, my Master,/_ came the mental voice of the boy. _/Climb back up, please./_

"Qui-Gon," he gave a whispered choke before finally relenting on his suicidal course. The Weequay was relieved when Dooku reached over and grabbed a hold of the cliff instead of him.

He should have stayed attached to the alien though.

As Dooku began climbing, the pirate kicked at the Jedi Master, causing him to slip on the moist rock. "Die Jedi!" sneered the man and Dooku did his best to deflect the blows with one hand. But he couldn't defend himself and hold onto the valley cliff face at the same time.

"Nooo!" screamed the Padawan as Dooku lost his grip and fell.


	17. 113 Traitor

**113**

**Traitor**

"Traitor."

That is what most of the galaxy called him these days. It did not matter if he had spent seven decades serving and protecting them, spilling the blood of those who would threaten their way of life or his own blood trying to preserve that way of life. The moment he had sowed the seeds of secession, he had sown the seeds of his own fate.

He was a traitor and forever will be known so.

"Traitor."

Count Dooku sighed heavily as the word fell heavily on his shoulders and from his lips. Twelve years and six months of treason had fallen heavily on his soul and mind and for what? To carve an Empire out of the Republic and the destruction of the Jedi? This was not what he had agreed to do when he had swore his loyalty to Sidious and the Sith. Yet at the same time he had agreed to it. Only when he finally saw what was happening to the Republic and the Jedi did he finally have second thoughts about his choice so long ago.

He turned the broken lightsaber over in his hands as the acid rain of Vjun pitter-pattered against the stain glass windows of the manor. The eerie light from Vjun's moon peeked through cloud breaks in the distance to cast shadows of water rivulets onto him and the Jedi weapon. He could see in the grooves, the brown and dry-caked blood of the Jedi that had fallen to his apprentice and found that he was saddened by the thought that another sister had died to his treason, that the weapon of the Jedi had become a tool of war instead of peace.

"Traitor," he repeated and lowered the weapon to his side when he looked up to stare out at the desolate grounds of the estate. The word tasted bitter in his mouth. He remembered when it had not _tasted_ like anything to him, but simply a means to an end. He had been so foolish to allow himself to reason like a Sith, a fallen, and now here he was bound to a master in the chains of a traitor with no way out.

_"When you fall, catch you I will."_

"Did you know, my master?" he asked the specter that only existed in his mind. "Did you know I would fall and fall hard?" He glanced down at the lightsaber again and allowed it to roll in the palm of his hand before his fingers enclosed around the base once more. "And if you did, why did you not catch me when I began to fall?"

He knew why and it took him twelve years and six months to realize that he had been too proud and stubborn to listen to his Master's pleas when the old Jedi came to him the night he had left. He had still been smarting from Qui-Gon's loss and the self-righteous anger he had felt at what he believed was a betrayal on the Council's part.

"But I will listen now, my master, and I only hope that there truly is a lit candle waiting for me." He lifted the lightsaber once more and flipped the switch that would activate it, but rather than the blue blade that should have emerged from the emitter, a tiny hologram of himself stood at the end, talking to the one Jedi he hoped he could still trust and make him feel less like a...

Traitor.


	18. 114 Loyal

**114**

**Loyal**

It was another one of Qui-Gon's pet projects, literally. They had found it in an old and abandoned diamond mine on the frozen world of Arkania after a harrowing escape from space pirates. They had been forced to make an emergency landing on the ice ball and from there, shelter in aforementioned mine when an ice storm had hit the crash site. It wasn't until a few hours after they had taken shelter and started a fire that his Padawan had noticed the thing. As usual, the Force beckoned his student to investigate and do something about the Arkanian dragon hatchling they had discovered amidst broken egg shells and dead siblings.

It's mother was no where to be found and even he sensed that she was no long amongst the living. Of course the half starved hatchling devouring the frozen corpses of its siblings might have also been a clue as to what had become of her. Predictably, Qui-Gon asked if they could take the creature with them and at first he refused but eventually gave in when the boy knew which strings to pull and what promises to make.

He wished he hadn't.

So the thing accompanied them back to Coruscant a day later once they had reached the small spaceport and booked passage out of the system. At first the tiny hatchling stayed around his Padawan, eagerly consuming whatever the boy fed him—which mostly consisted of ration bars and crackers—and sharing in his warmth. But as soon as they reached the city planet, the blasted thing decided that it preferred _him_ over the boy.

"He likes you," quipped Qui-Gon, clearly amused at his master's predicament. The stubby winged dragon had taken up residence inside his robes and was presently wrapped around his right arm within the large sleeve.

"I do not like him," replied Master Dooku while trying to dig the hatchling out of his sleeve. He winced as the animal clung tighter to his arm to avoid being removed. After a minute the Jedi Master gave up and just let the thing remain there, the tip of it's spiny tail just hanging out of the end of his cuff. "You are suppose to be caring for him, Padawan," the master reminded and Qui-Gon simply grinned back. He had a feeling that he was going to end up stuck with the animal.

As the days turned into weeks, Master Dooku's prediction turned to reality. However he had grown to like the animal as the animal grew both in size and personality. When they had first found it, it's body had been no bigger than his palm, weeks later it was as long as his forearm and could no longer hide within his sleeves anymore—much to his relief—and so ended up taking residence elsewhere in his robes, not so much to his relief.

It's personality seemed to match that of his own, equally as temperamental, moody and defiant whenever it interacted with other creatures, namely Qui-Gon. No matter how hard Qui-Gon tried to get the hatchling to pay attention to him or obey him, the creature simply ignored the Padawan and only seemed to acknowledge him when it was feeding time. However whenever Dooku wanted the thing to do something, it immediately obeyed. It especially enjoyed the times when he would simply relax on the sofa reading a datapad and stroking its ridges while it rested on his chest. Dooku had to admit that he also enjoyed those moments and wondered why he hadn't gotten a pet sooner.

But one thing was very obvious to both he and Qui-Gon, the hatchling was loyal to them both despite Dooku being it's favorite. There had been an incident not long after they had brought the animal to Coruscant and it was still small enough to hide in his sleeves, though it did not always stay there. They were reporting to the Council to give their report on another mission and no matter how hard he tried to get the beast to stay in their apartment, the creature simply refused to leave him. So now he stood before the twelve masters, praying that the hatchling would stay in his robes and not disrupt the meeting.

He should have prayed harder.

As soon as one of the masters started berating him for his decision to publicly and personally behead the leader of the opposing faction—which resulted in both sides to make peace so he didn't quite understand why he was being chastised in the first place—the hatchling made it's presence known with a hiss.

"Did you just hiss at me, Master Dooku?" the councilor asked and Dooku could sense his Padawan trying to suppress the snicker that wanted to surface.

"No, Master, I did... _not_." The last word came out strangled in reaction to feeling the hatchling moving across his body and over sensitive spots. He could hear the thing hiss in annoyance. A snigger escaped his Padawan and he gave the boy a dark look for it and immediately Qui-Gon schooled his features, though Dooku could still sense the amusement across the bond.

"Something wrong, there is Master Dooku?" Yoda inquired and the Jedi Master swore that Yoda knew exactly what was wrong and found it equally as amusing as his Padawan.

"No, my Master," he smoothly lied while reaching into the Force to both grab the dragon and calm it. The trick seemed to work and it stopped working its way to the surface of his robes.

"Good. As I was saying," the councilor from before continued. "You could have chosen the alternative route in resolving the conflict..."

"However it would not have achieved the same goals as swiftly and decisively as had the choice I did make," Dooku argued, clearly irritated. His irritation bled through to the hatchling and he felt it moving again. Once more he calmed it with the Force.

"Jedi do _not_ execute prisoners, Dooku! Nor do they force their padawans to participate in such barbarism."

A growl emerged from within his robes and the Jedi Master closed his eyes.

"Growling is unbecoming of you."

"It was not me," Dooku answered through clenched teeth. He wasn't sure which he should be more angry at. The hatchling or the councilor?

"Oh? Then I suppose it was just my imagination then?"

"If it only were, this meeting might be more bearable then."

"Your sarcasm is insulting, Master Dooku." He did his best not to move as the animal climbed down his right leg. He threw a glance at Qui-Gon and the Padawan simply shrugged. _The Force wills it, Master._

_As I feared._

"I doubt any insult from me would penetrate your thickheaded rational, Master Lur."

/_"Master Dooku,"_/ growled the Wookiee councilor, just as the hatchling reached the floor. /_"That is uncalled... what is that?"_/

"An Arkanian dragon hatchling," the regal master answered neutrally.

He did nothing as the hatchling ran over to Master Lur, hissing and then taking a bite out of the Jedi's booted foot. It held on as Lur abruptly stood with a lightsaber ignited. The entire room was stunned at the surprise and Qui-Gon hurried over to pick up the animal before Lur finished his thought to bi-sect it with his weapon.

"Hmm... Keeping pets are we now, Master Dooku?" Yoda was clearly amused.

"It bit me," Lur exclaimed. He wasn't sure if he should be offended or not.

"On your boot, it had."

"It still bit me!"

"I can explain, Masters," Qui-Gon interjected while trying to hold on to the creature. It struggled in his arms and he had no choice but to pass it off to his master. As soon as it was in Dooku's grip, the thing settled down and allowed him to _stuff _him back into his robes. "He was not taking too kindly to Master Lur's tone toward my master and sought to defend him."

"Just be glad his fuel sac hasn't matured yet," Dooku placated, though secretly he would have found it both amusing and pleasing to see the Jedi Master dance while his robe was on fire. "Of course, by then, he would have taken more out of your foot than just the leather."

"Why is it even here to begin with?" Lur demanded and the animal poked its head out of the robe and hissed at him. The councilor gave it a dirty look.

"Attached to Master Dooku it is."

Dooku gave a frustrated and embarrassed sigh. "_That _is an understatement of the century, Master."


	19. 115 Miracle & 116 Criminal

_Prompt 115 was posted separately due to its length. You can find the story titled "Wartime Miracles"  
_

**116**

**Criminal**

"It is outrageous," exclaimed an irate Master Dooku as he paced back and forth in Madame Nu's apartment. It was early in the morning of what should have been a good day but was quickly spiraling into another one of those days. "Completely and utterly criminal!"

"What is?" the historian stifled a yawn which Dooku either ignored or hadn't noticed. She was debating the first since he had come knocking on her door at an hour too early even for her to get up.

"My new Padawan!" He said it in such a way that he had expected her to know exactly what he had been talking about. However her inquisitive look had him elaborating a little more on his problem. "He is uncivilized, Jo! He... he comes back to our apartment covered in dirt-sometimes stuff I don't even want to guess-and brings home these... /things/ and expects me to accept it all!"

"Well you did say he was remarkably strong in the Living Force, Yan," Jocasta tried to say helpfully.

"I know, but I wasn't expecting him to behave like a uncouth barbarian from some backwater world no one has ever heard of!" Dooku threw up his hands in frustration before collapsing on the couch beside his friend. "What am I going to do?"

"Let him be and teach him hygiene?" she suggested with an amused smile. Jocasta looked away before he could notice her mirth.

"Jo," he said seriously. "He doesn't like tea."

"Oh now /that/ is most certainly criminal of him." She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her and after a moment, Dooku began to smile a little.

"Yes, it is."


End file.
